Children should be required to attend preschool - Essay Example

28 July Children should be required to attend preschool Preschool education is directed at children’s development in the years before they join school. It may not necessarily include teaching the children from textbooks. A child may not even have to be taken away from his/her mother in the preschool education. Preschool education just provides the parents and teachers with a platform where they can cooperate with each other with a view to developing an environment which is conducive for the optimal mental development and physical growth of the children.

Learning in the preschool takes place by imitation and experience. Preschool education plays a very important role in accurate psychological and academic development of children, particularly when they are provided with it at the age of three or four years. These programs not only make them make optimum use of their energy, but also provide them with all the knowledge that they have for kindergarten. Preschool programs play a very important role in the physical development of children along with their psychological nourishment in that there are a lot of fun programs and healthy meals.

Healthy habits like brushing the teeth after meals are inculcated into the children so that they follow them on a daily basis. Children are provided with computers in their classrooms so as to enable them to navigate the technology. Preschool education is a head start that children must be provided with. Having a child go to preschool is an effective way of expanding his/her social circle. In the friendly and homelike atmosphere of a preschool, children are able to develop the social skills that are necessary for displaying good performance in the academics.

Interaction with other children develops the necessary motor skills in the child. It is important for a child to have a fair understanding of both the social and motor skills before entering the public school. “Social and take-related behaviors have been viewed by teachers as more critical for success than academic skills” (Shaefer et al. 16). A chance to see other children of the same age perform challenging activities inculcates a feel in the child that he/she is not alone in this phase of life when he/she has to be with strange people away from mother.

For a parent, preschool will help show the child that there are other things in the world besides Mommy or Daddy. This is beneficial to the parent because it means that your preschooler will not be as clingy and attached as he was before starting a preschool program. This allows you and the child a break which is a good thing. (Mary 2). Sending a child to school at the right age is fundamental to the child’s personal development and academic growth. It is generally assumed that three or four years is the right age to send the children to school but this may not always be the case.

Different children develop differently. Plenty of children are not suitable for admitting into schools until they turn six or seven. Accordingly, it may not be possible for schools to bring all students of the same class to the same academic level. This is the reason why 99 per cent of the 4-year-old children and 83 per cent of the 3-year-old children in Scotland are provided with part time education in the government funded preschools (Scottish Executive cited in Plowman and Stephen 145). Such a huge emphasis upon the preschool education speaks of people’s confidence in it.

When a kid is admitted into the school without a preschool training, teachers assume that the parents deem their child eligible for the direct admission and hence, treat them accordingly. In such circumstances, children are moved to the next level without a sound knowledge of the curriculum of the previous level. Their concepts are not objective enough for a higher level, yet they are moved ahead. As a result, they show lower performance than what they are capable of and are not able to seek admissions in good colleges or join the profession of their choice.

Thus, one wrong decision made in the start of academic career just to save one or two years sabotages an individual’s academic as well as professional career for many years to come. Little kids should not be treated like miniature adults. In order for children to perform well in the schools in later years, they should be allowed to spend their time with mothers in their homes in the very early years of their life while transition to school must occur through preschool education. Works Cited: Mary, N. L. “Why You Should Give Your Child the Opportunity to Attend Preschool.

” 13 Aug. 2008. Web. 28 July 2011. . Plowman, Lydia, and Stephen, Christine. “Children, play, and computers in pre-school education.” British Journal of Educational Technology. vol. 36. no. 2. pp. 145-157. 2005. Web. 28 July 2011. . Schaefer, Barbara A., Shur, Kimberely F., Macri-Summers, Maria, and MacDonald, Scott L. “Preschool children’s learning behaviors, concept attainment, social skills, and problem behaviors: validity evidence for preschool learning behaviors scale scores.” Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment. Vol. 22. pp. 15-32. 2004. Web.

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